Two years ago, when rumors were first heard that the Islanders were going to trade Mariusz Czerkawski, the affable sniper pulled a reporter aside and said, “Whatever happens, just let them know how much I’ll miss the fans.”
After scoring 108 goals in four years with the Isles, Czerkawski was traded to Montreal last summer for grinding right wing Arron Asham and he went on to have the worst year of his professional life. After bouncing between the Habs and their farm team in Hamilton, Montreal bought out his contract for next season at $1.8 million, thereby making him an unrestricted free agent.
So the first person he called was Islanders GM Mike Milbury, who signed the right wing to a one-year contract yesterday that will pay him $1.05 million.
“Everyone knows Mariusz was a good Islander,” said Milbury, who got Asham (15 goals) and Czerkawski essentially for nothing. “He’s a real good guy with a great deal of talent and his conditioning is impeccable. The only question mark about him is, can he be a major contributor on a good team. Mariusz knows the knock on him and he’s determined to prove a lot of people wrong.”
Czerkawski scored 22 goals his last season with the Islanders, primarily riding shotgun on Alexei Yashin’s right wing. A pure goal scorer on the horrible Islander teams of the recent past, he struggled to find the net when the team made the playoffs and was never a favorite of then-coach Peter Laviolette.
While his Game 6 heroics (two goals) two years ago against the Leafs forced a final match in that series, his Game 7 gaffes in the defensive zone helped to eliminate the Isles, and ultimately led to his being traded and labeled as “one dimensional” by Milbury.
But now he’s back, and the Islanders, starving for some of his old magic on the right side, are hoping that he learned something in the year he spent in the reformatory of the minors.
“For giving me this chance,” Czerkawski said, “I’m determined to make Mike look even better.”